The radical plans the Tories are keeping under wraps
Fraser Nelson 1:15pm
So what is George Osborne really up to? If Coffee Housers are feeling depressed at the paucity of ambition in his speech (his ‘cuts’ package would shave just 1% off government spending) then take heart. In the magazine today, James Forsyth lists the far-more-radical changes that are being discussed by the Cameroons – but kept under wraps. The full piece is here, and the main points are…
1) Corporation tax cuts. No mention was made of a growth agenda in the speech, but there are plans to cut Britain’s company tax rates quite aggressively with Ireland’s 12.5% as a lodestar. Osborne wants Britain to have the lowest corporation tax rates of any major country, so we can imagine that his current proposals to reduce it are a starting point.
2) Bank windfall tax. They’d have a new rule saying that banks are not allowed to write off their cumulative losses against tax. The losses are so vast they could, in theory, allow banks to make tax-free profits for years. This would the equivalent to a windfall tax.
3) VAT at 20% Right now it’s at 15% - the minimum allowed by the European Commission (whose tax it is – a fact Cameron sometimes forgets when he talks about changing the way it’s applied to small companies). Jacking it up to 20% will be noticeable.
4) Cutting capital expenditure programmes and saying that if anyone wants to build a road they can do it for-profit and as a toll company/
5) The mix of cuts and spending the ratio being discussed by Tory-leaning economists is 30:70 ratio of cuts.
Anyway, do read the whole thing here
CityAM splashed on James’ column (below). Expect more follow-ups from Fleet St in due course.
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DavidDP
October 8th, 2009 1:30pm Report this comment"Take heart"?
Fraser, having to aggressively cut spending and raise taxation (although I note that the only taxation raised will be the ones hitting the poorest the hardest) is nothing to take heart about. It's a poor situation to be in.
Ivan D
October 8th, 2009 1:32pm Report this commentSo your latest, ever more tinny way to cheerlead is to, er, claim that there's *a hidden agenda*? Way to go on the honesty front, if true: though I do note you haven't actually squealed 'Brownies!' at anyone since your own outbreak of Nellies, so perhaps this matters less to you than once it did? But if it's not true, and whether you've, yet again, been spun, or, you're just whistling in the dark for comfort, if the sole case that can be made for Dave & co is that they *might*, *secretly* be planning to do wonderful things, those of us militantly unimpressed are, I think, going to stay that way a while longer.
Kevyn Bodman
October 8th, 2009 2:12pm Report this comment'militantly unimpressed'
Certainly.
A pre-election agenda kept 'under wraps'.
Another deceit to be perpetrated on the electorate.
Come on ,cheerleaders.
Tell us why it's OK to to do this, because I can't see it.
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